Technology Shabbats

One of the things people always want to know more about in Q&A’s for my films is the fact that my family and I completely unplug from all technology one day a week, something we call our “Technology Shabbats.” Every Friday night, we all unplug from all of our technologies and don’t turn them on again until Saturday evening. Unplugging for a day makes time slow down and makes me feel more present with my family. I not only appreciate this quality time with them, but it has also made me appreciate technology in a whole new way. By Saturday night we can’t wait to plug back in.

The idea of taking one day a week off from responsibilities and work is a very, very, very old idea. I think today with all potential of the internet we also need to know when to “not” be online. We’ve explored this idea in many of our films including, Brain Power and Yelp: With Apologies to Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, which is a re-writing of Allen Ginsberg’s classic poem Howl about our addiction to technology and the importance of unplugging.

I explore this idea further in both Season 1 and Season 2 of our Emmy-nominated AOL original series, The Future Starts Here…